A life-long resident of Orem, whose great-great-grandparents on my Patten side actually settled Orem, I am a moderate pluralist who believes every American should have a voice in civic affairs. My candidacy is supported by moderate Republicans, moderate Democrats, and moderate Independents, all of whom have a great deal in common: we want to help make a better life for the residents of Orem, of Utah County, of the State of Utah, of the United States, and for all other citizens of the planet. But “all politics are local,” so we need to begin at home.

My first priority is, and our first priority should be, to help provide a quality education for our most precious resource: our children. Each child in Orem deserves the very best loving and intelligent teachers focused precisely on his or her needs. The future of our community hangs in the balance. Will we have increasing numbers of capable, competent, creative citizens or increasing masses of discouraged, dysfunctional deadbeats? Education is the key!
We can do better to arrange for optimum classroom size and for more highly qualified and adequately paid teachers who are thrilled to be able to bless the lives of young Oremites.

We must not allow ourselves to be misled by well-intentioned libertarians posing as conservatives who do not believe in funding our public school system! There’s just too much at stake here in Orem for us to allow radical experiments in education by unqualified ideologues driven by extremist special interest groups such as the ultra-right-wing Eagle Forum or Patrick Henry Caucus. Our public school system is the safest, most conservative, proven method for providing a good education for all our children, but it requires support! It’s our best investment for the future. It cannot be allowed to stagnate and we cannot allow it to be attacked and undercut by extremists.

Some other important priorities for me are: Helping to reduce both fossil fuel use and our terrible winter air pollution by bringing all Orem homes up to modern insulation standards. This can be done at zero net cost, using the money saved from vastly reduced future utility bills. Such a project would create many jobs, especially in our hard-hit construction sector. We also need better public transportation and urban planning to reduce air pollution, traffic congestion, and needless sprawl (thus saving Oremites huge sums in fuel costs, needless expenses for extra cars for family members, etc.)

I am open to suggestions for other ideas which will improve the quality of life for citizens of Orem. I must say I am adamantly opposed to ridiculous, costly, (and probably unconstitutional) “Message Bills” which serve no purpose but to allow certain egotistical legislators to strut around the grandstand for their narrow ideological base.

Like the vast majority of Oremites, I am a proud American, a patriot who loves America and rejoices that Utah was able to become a State of the Union back in 1896. I believe Utahns ought to continue to be the very best patriotic Americans, not supporting fearful, angry seditionists who speak ill of our government, our president, and of our nation, implying that we ought to somehow try to secede from the Union. (That bloody flag of States Rights was waved by traitors way back in the 1850’s and the ensuing war didn’t end well for Americans, especially for those from places like South Carolina, if you recall.)

We need to help build America, to help model for all Americans what a successful community looks like. Orem and Utah can lead the way or we can gradually slide downward in all the indicators of success in a community, especially education, to always be tied with Mississippi for last place. It’s a clear choice! I think we can work together to make Orem more of a shining city on a hill than it already is.

Thanks for your support!

Cordially, Alan Keele